Posted on 11/11/2007 11:10:08 PM PST by McCoMo
Sheriff: Men confess to crime
By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
STELLA, Mo. — Both defendants in the brutal rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford have confessed to the crime, the Newton County sheriff said Sunday.
David Spears, 25, of Stella, and Chris Collings, 32, of Wheaton, are charged with one count each of first-degree murder, forcible rape and statutory rape in the girl’s death. Spears is Rowan’s stepfather.
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said investigators allege that Rowan was abducted early Nov. 3 from her home in Stella in Newton County, murdered in Barry County, and her body dumped in a sinkhole in McDonald County.
After a nearly weeklong search for the girl, Copeland said, Collings confessed Friday to Wheaton police Chief Clint Clark. Spears was arrested a short time later.
“Both confessed to raping and strangling her,” Copeland said.
Clark did not return a phone call Sunday. The Barry County sheriff’s office in Cassville said Sheriff Mick Epperly would have no updates on the case until Tuesday.
Investigators are continuing to work on determining what happened the night Rowan was abducted from her home, Copeland said.
David Spears has provided conflicting information to investigators since Spears and Rowan’s mother, Colleen Spears, reported the girl missing about 6:50 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, Copeland said.
During the search for Rowan, Copeland said, David Spears rode around with another man.
“He (Spears) was pointing out to this man where would be good places to put a body,” Copeland said.
One of those places was the sinkhole in McDonald County where the girl’s body ultimately was found, the sheriff said.
“It’s about 15 to 20 feet down, and it was getting dark,” Copeland said of the time David Spears reportedly pointed out the site during the search.
Rowan’s body was found the next morning, which was Friday, by McDonald County deputies Jake Boles and Mike Hall in the sinkhole near Powell.
According to reports, Colleen Spears last saw her daughter at about 8:30 p.m. Nov. 2 before she left for work at the Wal-Mart store in Jane.
David Spears, Collings and another man were playing pool at the Spears home in the town of Stella in southern Newton County while Rowan was asleep in her bedroom, Copeland said.
The three men decided to leave at 10:45 p.m. to take Collings home, Copeland said.
“They stopped so a man named Nathan and David could get more beer,” he said.
Copeland said Nathan reportedly dropped David Spears off at the Spears residence.
That’s where the story gets murky, Copeland said.
Authorities said David Spears has acknowledged that he went out a second time around 1:30 a.m. Nov. 3 after calling his mother, Myrna Spears, and asking to borrow her car. Myrna Spears has said she watched television and did not check on the girl. David Spears was gone for 5 1/2 hours.
Copeland said Sunday that David Spears has told investigators that he discovered Rowan missing before he called his mother.
“He said he knew Chris (Collings) would have her (Rowan),” Copeland said.
He said Spears has said that after borrowing his mother’s car, he drove to Collings’ travel trailer, where he alleged that he found Collings raping the girl.
Both men are suspected of raping and strangling the girl with a netting cord, Copeland said.
David Spears initially told investigators that he did not discover Rowan was missing until the next morning, after Colleen Spears arrived home from work.
“We had three different cadaver dogs hit on (Myrna Spears’) car,” Copeland said. “We know the body was in there at some point.”
The two defendants are expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Barry County Circuit Court. Both men were being held Sunday without bond in the Barry County Jail.
Myrna Spears said Sunday that she has not talked to her son since his arrest on Friday.
David Spears and Collings, who grew up in the Wheaton area, have been friends for about 10 years, Myrna Spears said.
She said Collings recently returned from Arkansas, where his estranged wife and two children, both younger than 10, live.
Myrna Spears said she thought she knew Collings, and never suspected that he or her son would be capable of murder and rape.
Copeland said Sunday that Spears and Collings recently had been working for a property owner on construction of a barn in McDonald County.
Neither man is listed as a registered sex offender, Copeland said.
Copeland said Collings, who lived in the travel trailer about a mile east of Wheaton, had been making a living by working odd jobs and selling scrap metal.
Services
Funeral services for Rowan Ford will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Gospel Lighthouse Church in Neosho. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Clark Funeral Home in Neosho, where the family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. A memorial fund has been established. Donations may be made at any Hometown Bank.
That’s too good for them. They deserve nothing less than death.
OH, I see who you are referring to, the Nathan mentioned in the article. Sorry, I have slept since I read that article... and senility is setting in.
That is a good question. Obviously this Nathan guy is the third guy who they were running around with that night. Personally, I am not going to do much to try to find out, and unless he is named by the police as being involved in the crime I would not name him here even if I find out. I would not care to have a man who, just by being unfortunate enough to pick these creeps to go have a few drinks with, suffer guilt by association that might be unwarranted. For all I know, he could have met them that very night... and may even be a good guy who is partly responsible for helping bust the creeps.
You pointing that out does kinda solve one outstanding question I had, about whether that Billy Jack character was the one out partying with them that night. Looks like he is in the clear.
I tend to agree with you, but on the other hand, Lethal Injection is an easy way to die... it does not provide me with enough satisfaction.. I would like to see them suffer. For that reason, I think I almost favor life w/o a possiblity of parole.. and putting them in the general prison population. They would probably still die eventually.. but may get a good dose of what they did to her before they did die.
>>The people who were his myspace “friends” had him listed as a “friend” because they were not uncomfortable with Collings or his myspace page.
I don’t do myspace, but if I did, I sure as hell wouldn’t have “friends” like this guy.<<
You are, of course, dead on the money. And judging from the nice pictures some of them posted on his page, we can see that they are just the sort that we’d all love to leave our children with too.
Well, I have a theory about that.
I think they were caught so easily (face it, it was easy) because they made such a poor choice of where to hide the body.
I suspect that as the week wore on, they realized that 1) if Rowan's body were found any time soon, their goose was cooked (due to DNA evidence), and 2) it was definitely going to be found, and probably soon.
At that point, self-preservation would dictate that they move the body. But either they wouldn't (for a number of reasons, it would take a brave and determined person to even try), or they couldn't. I think it very likely that they were physically unable to even make the attempt.
Spears, we are told, is so huge and in such bad shape physically that he probably couldn't even make it up the hill to the sinkhole. And Collings is approximately 6 feet 7 inches tall! One report said 6 feet 8, but from the police mug shot he looked about 6' 7" to me.
Either way, anybody that tall has to be pretty big. Well, apparently the sinkhole is just about big enough for a normal-sized adult to squeeze through, with difficulty. I suspect Collings may not have been able to make it through without somehow widening the opening -- which is most likely made out of solid rock.
So it may well be that these guys, having made their choice, were stuck with it... and then had to pretty much wait helplessly to be found out.
According to this article, Collings claimed he acted alone. He said he took the girl to the sinkhole in his truck. The problem with that story is that the cadaver dogs kept hitting on Spears' mother's vehicle.
Perhaps Collings confession was prior to and with no knowledge that Spears also confessed. Wonder what possible motive Collings would have to protect Spears. Perhaps the notoriety and not wishing to share the spotlight?
Could be part of it. OTOH, I think those two have been friends for about 10 years. And Spears may have acted with Collings’ encouragement. So he might be trying to protect his own buddy, or trying to make himself feel a little bit better by acting “altrusitically.”
Whatever that means to a child-rapist/murderer.
This is UNCOMFIRMED as of this posting. David Spears and Colleen spears work at the Wal-mart in Jane. I am uncertain if Myrna Spears (David’s mother) works there too.
Anyway, my wife was at that Wal-mart this evening. She knows several of the people who work there. They were discussing this case, and the folks at Wal-mart were telling my wife that Myrna Spears was arrested today.
Once again THIS IS UNCONFIRMED at this time, and may be mere rumor. I have combed the area news services and found no mention of it thus far.
But it is happening more & more.
Any evidence of that? Data? Links?
There is another thread on FR where a man had been putting hunting dog training collars on his daughters, and raping them.
If I see it again, I will provide a link.
Sometimes I think that the Second Coming already happened and we are living in hell.
The good are punished, evil men are given raises and promotions, yes means no, no means yes.
We have enemies that state in the media “We are going to kill you all.” And yet many insist on pacifying them or even helping them.
We have attained Sodom and Gomorrah in major parts of our nation, and the world.
Child prostitution and slavery still exist.
Maybe the world has always been this bad. Maybe we just have better communications, so we are more aware of the problems.
Our Justice system isn’t just. Criminals are not punished in any rational basis.
Murderers, rapists and pedophiles get less prison time than pot smokers.
You can refuse to be scared. There is little reason to be so. But a good reason to be very, very careful and protective of your life,home, and family.
I do believe that many people grow up now with a lack of morals, and that it contributes to the lawlessness we see.
What do you think? More or less?
Not much in the way of details yet but KSPR has learned that at least one phone call had been made to the state abuse hotline concerning Rowan Ford.
[Barry County Sheriff Epperly] plans to have detectives question Colleen Spears. He wants to try to figure out if she had any prior knowledge of this murder or any kind of prior sexual abuse. If so, he would like to see her charged also.
This strikes me as being damned unprofessional conduct. Obviously, this area has to be investigated. So do it, but shut up about the intent to do so.
Quite possible. I also see downstream (I'm catching up on this thread now) that Spears' mom 'may' have been arrested?
According to various news reports, NATHAN is the third individual the night of the kidnapping/murder.
"I'm just kind of wondering if he ain't covering up for somebody," said Greg Horton.
Huh? Why would anyone, even a deranged nutcase such as this, confess to a heinous crime just to cover up for someone?
Thank you for the help. I am sick & as is my daughter so I couldn’t do a really good search. It seems to me it does happen more or we hear about it more. I couldn’t really prove what I said as years ago people really didn’t air things like rape etc as much as they do now IMHO. ~P~
Thank you so much for the update. Just last night I was wondering about this case. I was convinced all along it was the stepdad and only a question of finding her body, unfortunately. God rest her little soul.
Since they’ve pled there probably won’t be a trial, just a sentencing hearing. By copping the pleas, I imagine the perps will get life but not the death penalty. At least that spares Rowan’s mother having to sit through the trial.
Not knowing the facts I am torn between sympathy for a mother who lost her daughter in such a brutal fashion because she had to work the night shift at WalMart and not so much sympathy for having married this guy in the first place and subjecting her daughter to being around him. Mostly my sympathies are for poor Rowan who seemingly had an entirely too short life, lived under not-acceptable circumstances. Heartbreaking.
Mine too. I just don't understand how anyone could harm a child like this. They are monsters. Prayers for Rowan.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.